Sense isn't so common after all

You know you've got a good old argument when I can start a column by quoting one of my favourite lines, as uttered by Mrs Reverend Lovejoy in one of her fits of righteous indignation,  from The Simpsons - “WILL SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN!”

Now it is a rare, rare debate that can see both sides claim dibs on that classic line, a line I imagine the writers intended to lampoon false outrage and hysteria that sweeps modern day society, but the GAA's decision last week to remind their members of a rule that was already in place but widely ignored managed to see both sides cry “Will someone think of the children!!!”

What am I talking about? It's quite simple - in a letter to their County Boards, Croke Park reminded the guardians of the game and upholders of the rules of the Association that for all players under the age of 12, the emphasis should be on every child getting game time  in line with their Go Games model.

Maybe we all are the problem

THE LAST POINT

To hold tournaments, clubs will have to apply online to their County Games Development Manager and that all score keeping, medals, trophies and even finals are now banned - all with the Association's stated aim of making the GAA more inclusive, focussed on participation, and addressing the alarming drop-off in playing numbers after the age of 12.

This will  apparently  also apply to Cumann na mBunscol which won't go down well after a few weeks of hectic and heart stopping action in Avant Money Pairc Sean Mac Diarmada in the Leitrim Primary Schools Finals.

This edict, as termed by those opposed to the implementation of what was already on the Association's books, has not gone down well as you can imagine. Woke is a word that has been bandied about, a word that conjures up ideas and images so completely removed from the topic at hand that I guess it has been used for just that exact reason - shock value.

Those decrying the edict say, and quite reasonably I think, that competition is part of life, of sport, and that winning and losing helps the maturation process of young children as they move into adolescence, learning valuable life lessons that will serve them throughout their entire lives.

A litany of former stars took to social media to point out that they won and lost in tournaments at that age and it did them no harm, but as one savvy commentator pointed out, they were probably the good kids who were getting to play  each and every game and weren't being left on the sideline to twiddle their thumbs.

I'll admit, I love competitive sport myself, it is so engrossing and wonderful but as I've grown older, maybe even a little wiser, I've seen the competitive element taken to extremes  on the fields of Leitrim - often at the expenses of youngsters who haven't the knowledge nor the self awareness to shout stop.

I could talk of children being told to stay away from matches by their own coaches or left unused on the bench all season because it helps the team to win; clubs with maybe 20, 25 players in an age group massaging the numbers so that they could play in the old 9 or 11-a-side competitions - all because their chances of winning is so much better if they handpick the ten or 11 or 12 players who are stronger, bigger and more skillful.

I could recite a litany of horror stories of children as young as 12 or 13 being subjected to sessions more suited to 18 year olds, or even adults and coaches exhorting their young players to commit the clever tactical  foul in the interest of the team, and then we wonder why children lose interest in sport.

Tailteann dreams on a knife edge

THE LAST POINT

Kids aren't stupid - they get the message quickly enough and that's where the startling drop-out comes in as children are told, if not exactly in words but by deeds, that they are not worth anything by their own coaches.

Crazy coaching practices and adults living vicariously through the exploits of 10 or 12 year olds is not confined to gaelic games, far from it, but part of me wonders what is it in the GAA that they can't see that the more players they keep coming up through the ranks, the more they keep engaged and interested in gaelic football or hurling, the more players they will have long term and their club will be the better for it.

The Go Games and Super Games approach works - it works for rugby clubs and it works for soccer where underage blitzes, with no scores being kept, is the way of things - of course, kids will know if they win or lose and some kids will run through brick walls in pursuit of victory but for  any club looking to its own future, it can't be all about the one or two exceptional kids who win all the time - it has got to be about more than that.

One startling statistic that struck me was the famed Tony Forristal U14 Tournament has never seen its winner go on to win an All-Ireland Minor Hurling title - for a tournament that is about developing and celebrating young talent, that's mind-boggling and leaves you wondering what is the point of the tournament.

To my mind at least, the explanation is simple - if you're picking a competitive team at U14 level, you're going to pick the biggest and strongest players. That they may have matured much earlier than their peers doesn't seem to come into it but when the slighter, less strong player matures a few years later, they often leave the erstwhile stars of U14 level well behind them - that is if the kids stick at the sport at all.

There are kids who have dazzled from a young age and come all the way through to adult level  but the stats suggest that they are the exception rather than the rule - I could pick  dozens and dozens of examples of youngsters in Leitrim  who were wonderkids at U12 only to be never heard of again by the time they got to Minor but that'd be cruel - instead, I'll point to  Gerard O'Donnell,  one of this county's most successful sporting stars.

A man who had competed at European level and won multiple Irish titles over the years, the Carrick AC hurdler didn't win his first All-Ireland juvenile title until he was 16 years of age - there were plenty of silvers and bronzes and lots and lots of near misses  but no gold but the lads who beat him at those younger ages, lads much more physically mature, were nowhere on the scene by the time Gerard won his first international vest in the Irish Schools team.

Time to get back on the horse

THE LAST POINT

Now, since I was coaching him at the time, the aim was to win but the guiding principle behind his development was ensuring he was still involved in the sport in his 20s, something that sadly is often not the case in athletics and many sports. Longevity has got to be the goal and that requires patience and a willingness not to require instant gratification, be it coach or athlete.

The GAA is far from alone in experiencing these problems but at least they are trying to do something about it. Unfortunately,  last week's debate shows that the message has yet to get through but, if I had my way, in my own sport of athletics, there'd be no individual competition before 14 years of age but competition at that age brings in the numbers and the entry fees so it is a double-edged sword.

But here is the danger I'd point out to my GAA friends - Connacht athletics might have 90 to 100 kids competing in a 60m sprint for 11 years olds but five years later, there are barely enough athletes  to fill eight lanes on a track. You only have to look at the playing fields of Leitrim to know it is the same and that is the true danger here.